CARRIZOZO — The No. 10-ranked Mescalero Apache Lady Chiefs (20-6, 6-1) basketball team simply out-played, out-rebounded and out-worked the No. 7-ranked Magdalena Lady Steers (20-6, 5-2) in the second half to pull away with a 51-46 victory in the District 3-2A tiebreaker at the Carrizozo High School Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

Entering the game, Mescalero was 2-7 against Magdalena. Now the Lady Chiefs have proven that can run with just about any team in the state. Mescalero head coach Elmer Chavez is proud of his girls for developing into a top-10 program.

"It's a good win for Mescalero High School and it's a good win for our program," Chavez said. "Our girls are developing. I told them, when your out there, you guys showed you could play with them at halftime and I kind of laid the law down to them at halftime and then they came out third quarter and played ball.

"I think they're starting to realize that they can play with anybody in the state. We've come a long ways and I'm very proud of these girls."

The Lady Steers hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter as they gained a 16-8 lead.

Mescalero outscored Magdalena 8-5 in the second quarter to cut the deficit to five points at halftime.

In the second half, the Lady Chiefs went into third gear. Mescalero caught fire to outscore the Lady Steers 18-8 to take a 34-29 lead at the end of three quarters.

At one point, the Lady Chiefs led by 10 points in the second half. The Lady Steers matched Mescalero 17-17 in the fourth quarter, however it was not enough as the Lady Chiefs captured the No. 1 seed at the District 3-2A tournament. Mescalero now rides a six-game winning streak while carrying a 7-0 record on the road.

Mescalero Junior Lauryn Yuzos added with eight points before fouling out with 4:03 left in the fourth quarter. Freshman Justice Blake finished with eight points while junior Alarah Kazhe-Kirgan hit a lay-up in the fourth quarter to finish with two points.

The Lady Chiefs went 12-for-22 from the free throw line.

"It was actually pretty fun because we played as a team, we hustled, we out-boxed them, we out-rebounded them — it was pretty fun," Katelyn Yuzos said. "It was pretty tough, but we had to work hard every single day. Everybody comes to practice, we work hard. We always prepare for these things. Next week we're going to prepare again.

"The game-plan is work hard, keep passing, hustle down at the ball and out-box everybody."

Janessa Melendrez tries to get a pass off while being guarded by Jaydin Stephens.(Photo: Peter Dindinger/Daily News)

Magdalena shot 9-for-13 from the charity stripe. Turnovers and the inability to out-rebound Mescalero plagued the Lady Steers. Magdalena head coach Wally Sanchez hopes to get a rematch with Mescalero in the district title game.

"We got into that 10-point deficit because number one turnovers and number two the boards," Sanchez said. "It's a pretty simple game. Turnovers ... people aren't just thinking. Their 2-1-2 zone is tough. We'll deal with that at practice, but as far as the turnovers and boards, that's something the kids got to take care of.

"We just take one game at a time. We'll see who we have on Thursday and then take care of business there and probably we'll match-up with these guys again."

The last time Mescalero forced a tiebreaker was during the 2011-2012 season in the old District 7-1A.

Mescalero hosts the District 3-2A title game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

"We had everybody in foul trouble so it was a good win for us," Chavez said. "I'm very proud of our girls."